


From the Golden Tissue of Youth’s New Optimism

by fandomwolfx



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, High School, Varchie!Centric, minor mentions of abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:08:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24557455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fandomwolfx/pseuds/fandomwolfx
Summary: Veronica and Archie get the senior year of high school that they deserve, no murder, no fear.Just two teenagers saying goodbye to their small hometownOr, a s4 fix it fic
Relationships: Archie Andrews/Veronica Lodge, Betty Cooper/ Jughead Jones - Relationship, Cheryl Blossom/ Toni Topaz
Comments: 16
Kudos: 43





	1. The last football game

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This fic is basically just Archie and Veronica spending some time together before the end of their high school days, it doesn’t really have a plot more like a theme for each chapter. 
> 
> I would like to dedicate this fic to “multivarchie” on tumblr because I had to pull out of a project with her in order to write this, and I still feel super guilty about it. 
> 
> Anyway I hope you enjoy me being a hopeless romantic for like 8000 words

Veronica hit her bed with a sigh, the silk duvet cooling down her sweaty skin as the June heatwave continued to harass the town of Riverdale. 

After numerous hours of rigorous and honestly quite painful vixens practise, Veronica knew that she should probably jump in the shower, but her arms and legs were like jelly- it had taken all of her strength to peel off the navy gym shorts she was wearing when she finally got back to the Pembrooke. 

Whilst Veronica loved cheering, she was glad when the football season (and subsequently Riverdale High’s need for the vixen’s) ended a few months ago, there was only so much time a girl could spend being under the weight of Cheryl Blossoms’ very controlling very high vermillion heel. 

But then, some moron who seriously didn’t deserve their job on the school district board decided to conduct a charity football match between the Bulldogs and the students at Greendale. Because apparently, when two small towns (a la “in Cold Blood”) have mortality rates that high, the economy isn’t really where it's supposed to be. That’s how Veronica had spent some of her last few precious weeks of high school doing splits, and chants and lifts leaving her skin mottled, rather than spending time with her friends reminiscing about milkshake dates as well as how to truly appreciate the good ol’ days when you’re living through them. 

She hadn’t seen Betty and Jughead for weeks as they had no interest in the football match and seemed to have the school spirit as Veronica Sawyer and Jason Dean, instead the duo was spending their time having picnic dates at sweetwater river, and for once Veronica was annoyed to admit she was slightly jealous of their relationship- she hadn’t seen her highschool sweetheart in what seemed like months as he was so preoccupied with the game. 

Letting out another indignant huff, Veronica reached for her phone located in the duffel bag by her bed, where her petulant lip was replaced by a small smile as she saw a missed call from Archie just 20 minutes ago. 

Hoping that he hadn’t already passed out in his room after practise, Veronica was quick to call him back, smiling fondly at her lockscreen: a photo of Archie practising the guitar in his garage, one of the few times they were in that room that he actually was wearing a shirt…

She was taken out of her daydream filled with shirtless Archie and said garage when he answered her call almost immediately, she could have sworn it hadn’t even rang once. 

“Long time no speak, lover boy”

He chuckled at the nickname, and she could imagine the blush making its way up his neck and round to his adorable ears, years later and he still seemed to be embarrassed by the term of affection, whether it be in public or just between the two of them. 

There’s a few seconds pause before he murmurs “I miss you” in a voice way too earnest for a phone call and not whispered into the crook of her neck. 

“I miss you too” she replies instinctively. 

“The last time I saw you was…” another pause “Wait. When was the last time I saw you Veronica” he asks 

“You’ll find the last time we saw each other was in the janitors closet last Thursday during lunch for one of our infamous rendez-vous” she makes sure to over exaggerate the french accent, knowing how much it turns him on, which he confirms by groaning through the speaker.

“That was a tease and you know it” he responds and she revels in how strained his voice sounds. 

“What are you gonna do about it then?” her voice like a whisper, whilst her hands begin to skim her abdomen and her fingers playing with the hem of her black panties.

“Nothing…”

“Archie” she whines as she retracts her hand “that is so not fair, I swear to God if this is because I teased you I am permanently replacing you with my own fingers” 

“I promise it’s not that Ronnie” he replies quickly

“Are you going to enlighten me to the reason you are actively choosing to leave your girlfriend horny and alone rather than I don’t know, doing something about it?”

“Well, just imagine if we don’t do anything about it tonight” she can literally hear his boyish smirk and she kind of wants to throttle him for it, but she’s also very intrigued to see what he’s going to proposition so she decides to let him continue it “imagine how good it will feel tomorrow when we finally get to see each other” 

“I like your thinking Archiekins” she admits nestling further into her pillows, she can imagine him currently in a similar position. Lying on his plaid duvet, one hand up by his ear holding the phone whilst the other idly scratches his abs, shirt ruched up ever so slightly exposing the slight snail trail to his boxers. 

It takes Veronica all of her self restraint not to grab the first clothes she sees out of her closet and drive to the Andrew’s house that very second.

But as much as she hates to admit it - he’s right. Whilst she can unfortunately vouch for the fact that break up sex is amazing it is ever so slighlty beat out by reunion sex, so she figures she can wait a day.

“You’ll still have your cheerleading outfit on though, right?” he adds

“Yes” she can’t help but laugh “That a fantasy of yours Archiekins?” the pitch of her voice steadily increasing upwards. 

“You have no idea Veronica” 

Once again, the fact that he says the dumb teenage boy fantasy so seriously, that Veronica finds herself biting her lip in an attempt to suppress the wide smile appearing on he face. 

There’s a silence for a minute or two, neither of them talk, merely happy to have the presence of the other next to them. The sun continues to blare through Veronica’s window and she feels sated, comfortable and most importantly safe. For the first time since she arrived in Riverdale life is normal, apart from some machinations from her father no one is trying to kill anyone or get people to join a cult or pumping drugs into the town. Veronica’s biggest worry is currently if her high kick is crooked and will Archie still be in the mood for sex after the game if the Bulldogs lose. 

Which is exactly what she asks him. 

He reassures her that that is something she should never have to worry about. 

They talk well into the night, the sun disappears but heat still clings to the air. She finally convinces him to hang up the call around midnight, when most of their conversation is being interrupted by yawns. Veronica falls asleep that night and wonders when she got to the point in her life where she actually looks forward to the prospect of a new day, rather than actively dreading it. 

From the second Veronica stepped into the school building, macchiato in hand, she was being pulled in what seemed like 70 different directions. 

Cheryl wanted to go over the routine one more time before classes , Kevin had asked her to help with pinning a banner during study hall (he must have been in desperate need for help if he wanted Veronica to do any form of manual labor) and Mr. Wetherbee pulled her at the start of lunch to ask her if Pop’s would be able to provide more shakes than they originally agreed on for the game. 

By the time Veronica had left Weatherbee’s office, lunch was halfway over. She sat down at an empty table with a view of the football field, hoping to see a certain ginger stallion out on the field practising for the game tonight. However, Veronica’s plans for a quiet and peaceful lunch watching Archie play was quickly interrupted by Betty and Jughead joining her. Betty sat primly on the bench opposite, whilst Jughead was perched on the end of the table, a disgusted look on his face at the sight of Veronica’s salad on the table, clearly hoping he’d be able to steal a fry… or two.

The apprehensive look on Betty’s face worried her immensely; she let out a frustrated groan and covered her face with her hands, before staring at Betty through the small gap in her hands. 

“Please tell me you don’t have a favour to ask me, I’ve done so much manual work over the past few days that I swear to god I have an actual callous on my hand”

Betty reached across the table to wrench Veronica’s arm away from her face.

“No, we’re worried about you V” Betty admitted, she could hear a scoff from Jughead’s direction, to which Veronica responded with a glare that was especially reserved for the boy in the beanie.

Now Betty was reaching across the table to swat at Jughead “Okay it’s mainly me that’s worried, but you’ve been working non stop to organise this game, you must be exhausted” 

“I’m fine” Veronica responded quickly, apparently too quickly for Betty’s liking as she was met with the blonde cocking her head and squinting at her.

“No, seriously B, I’m fine. A little frazzled, feeling a bit more like Madeleine Mckenzie from big little lies than Elle Woods, my preferred Reese Witherspoon persona, but I’ll deal. Plus this will all be over by the end of tonight anyway” She couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief at the thought of all this being over in merely a couple of hours, her pep and moxie were seriously diminishing by the minute. 

“Okay, if you say so” Betty replied, her voice dropping an octave like it does when she doesn’t necessarily believe what she’s hearing. 

“Well me and Bett’s were thinking of going to Pop’s after the game if you and Archie wanted to join” Jughead added whilst moving to stand behind Betty, playfully pulling on her ponytail in the process. 

Veronica couldn’t lie, she was quite touched at this gesture. Throughout senior year her and Jughead had finally seemed to have crossed the line between “somewhat acquaintances” to “actual friends”. Their relationship still mostly consisted of arguing over pop culture, so any genuine moments between the two of them still struck Veronica as weird and honestly a little awkward- but she appreciated his invitation nonetheless. 

She was still gonna reject it though. She wasn’t above that. 

“You guys aren’t gonna go to Reggie’s after party? he’s spent like his yearly allowance on kegs” 

Jughead scoffed again and rolled his eyes “May I remind you that the last time I was at a house party, the sheriff aka my Dad busted it, and then the time before that I punched a guy and my Dad was once again the person who decided he had to kick everybody out” 

Veronica pretended to mull the information over “mhmmm” she said “I’ll take that as a no then”

The bell for next period rang as he helped Betty to her feet “You can take that as no Veronica” he replied over his shoulder as the two of them left the cafeteria.

Shit. 

She hadn’t even had a chance to eat her lunch. 

Her afternoon whilst less eventful (minus a few very heated glances between her and Archie across Mr.Beaker’s classroom) left Veronica full of nerves and excitement for the game. 

When she eventually gets back to the Pembrooke Veronica has around two hours to get ready before she has to leave for the match, and whilst that technically is enough time for her to finally eat her lunch, she finds that her appetite has completely disappeared. 

Instead she spends extra time ensuring that she can look perfect for the game. Her ponytails are always slicked back, not a single flyaway baby hair in sight, but tonight she spends a little more time curling it and ensuring it’s at that perfect height so it can swish bounce with her every move. She uses her 40 dollar Yves Saint Laurent eyeliner to paint the word “BULLDOGS” on her cheekbones and applies so many gemstones and bright colors to her face that she could easily pass for a character on Euphoria. It’s a very cliche teenager move and she’s aware of that fact, but at the end of the day, she is a teenager and lord knows she’s earned the right over the last few years to actually act like one. 

The first half of the game runs smoothly. Despite the fact it’s late evening by the time the game begins the June weather means that the sun is still out and the sky is clear, leaving it the warmest condition that she’s ever cheered in. For once in her life Veronica is thankful for how small and thin her cheer outfit is, but also pretty sure that the “bulldog” logo she spent a solid half an hour etching onto the side of her face is nothing but a black oily smudge at this point. 

Despite the heat the vixens manage to perform successfully at half time, and Cheryl only shouts at Ginger once, insisting that she is a quivering, bumbling village idiot and should not have been responsible for carrying such precious cargo (Aka Toni) during the routine - so they all consider it a win. 

She’s sat on the bleacher now, chest heaving and sweat trickling down the nape of her neck after the performance, trying to concentrate as the last few minutes of the game plays out. The sun has started to set now and the sky has darkened to that dark purple with bursts of orange peeking through that you only ever see on those warm summer nights. 

Without her glasses on though, she struggles to read the scoreboard in the distance and turns to Cheryl to ask who’s winning. 

Cheryl who was busy glaring daggers into the back of Ginger’s head pointedly ignores her question, she thinks about turning to her left to ask Kevin, but it’s also pretty clear that he’s not paying much attention to the game and instead focusing on the players. Betty and Jughead who are behind her look too busy investigating something on Jughead’s phone, so she doesn’t even bother asking. 

So instead she gets up and brushes down her skirt, trying and failing to rearrange the pleats before joining Toni at the sidelines, who unlike the rest of her friends actually seem to have an interest in the game.

“Who’s winning?” she shouts, hoping that Toni can hear her over the crowds. 

“Us” she yells back quickly. 

That’s good she thinks, there’s only a few minutes left of the game, so there’s a pretty high chance they could actually win this thing. 

“By how much?” she adds, eyes darting between the players, the scoreboard and Toni’s silhouette. 

“Shh” Toni chastises and holds her hand up to silence Veronica, her eyes never leaving the game.

“I was only-”

“Last 30 seconds” 

Oh shit. 

It might have only been a stupid high school charity football game, but it felt like so much more. Maybe it was because Veronica had a lot of the normal high school experience taken away from her and she finally feels like a normal 18 year old girl, maybe it’s because this small bizarre corrupt town actually deserves to win something for once, maybe (and most likely) it’s because she knows how much Archie wants this. 

That after all the hardships he faced throughout the last few years and then the death of his father (one of Riverdale’s true diamonds amongst the dirty, malicious rough) he at least deserves to win a stupid football game and actually be proud of himself rather than thinking that all of Riverdale’s multitudes of sins lie on his broad and chiseled shoulders. 

Amongst all the voices she manages to hear Toni mutter that there’s only 10 seconds left on the clock. 

She immediately starts scanning the field in search for Archie, her eyes had drifted from him when she had asked Toni about how long was left of the match. It only takes her a few seconds to focus on the unruly mop of red hair that’s at the other end of the field, her vision isn’t great but she certainly notices when he too is scanning the field, his eyes meeting hers with a big grin on his face. Two years of dating later and she still feels that pull in her core at the thought she is the one he looks for when something good happens. 

When the game officially ends, Veronica is nearly knocked over by the waves of Riverdale high students that seem to pool onto the field, her gaze is still locked on Archie and she lets out a loud laugh, the kind you feel in your belly when he gives her a wink and holds his arms out wide.

She runs towards him, heels kicking up mud splattering onto her shins in the process and she can’t believe that she’s doing this. If someone told the Veronica of three years ago that she’d be running into her boyfriend's arms after a football game, not as a popularity/ publicity stunt but because she’s so happy and proud of him she would have told you that you spend too much time watching B grade teen dramas on Netflix. 

Finally reaching him she barrels into his arms, locking her legs around his hips whilst his arms envelop around her, and she secretly takes comfort in the fact his hand seems to cover the whole expanse of her back. 

“Well done Bulldog” she whispers as his arms squeeze her tighter, he goes to move his face into the junction between her shoulder and neck but she grabs his face and begins to press chaste and sloppy kisses all over, trying not to giggle at the way his nose scrunches up in the process. She can taste the sweat on his skin as she continues to do so, and as he sets her back to the ground and uses one of his fingers to move a stray piece of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail behind her ear she realises that his fingers have been stained black from her eyeliner. 

“Am I allowed to make a comment about you being my lucky charm” he murmurs, chest steadily rising up and down from all of the adrenaline “or is that too much”

Looking up at him she can see that his pupils are completely blown, his hair is matted down to his forehead and there’s splotches of red across his face that she guesses is her lipstick.

She also notices that like herself, he has issue with acting like a normal teenage couple, so used to being in danger and confessing their feelings in high tension situations that the normal and mundane can sometimes, actually, be a little scarier. 

To just admit randomly in the middle of a football game that she’s his “lucky charm” being vulnerable purely for the sake of being vulnerable is still an uncomfortable thing for them. Maybe not in sophomore year, but after their break up last year… definitely. 

Which is why she shakes her head and tells him “not too much… just enough” in a breathy whisper before standing on her tiptoes and firmly planting her lips on his, to which he responds with equal fervor. 

She pulls away, sooner than she would have liked because of the hundreds of people around them. They had been kissing so intensely that when they separate there’s a popping sound and she’s only slightly embarrassed at the string of saliva that appears between the two of them. 

He looks down at her with that impish grin of his and intertwines their hands together before pulling her in the direction of the car park, and more importantly away from the rest of their peers who seem to be heading towards the locker rooms. 

As they hurriedly make their way to what she presumes is his truck they hear several wolf whistles and she bets her first editions of Pablo Neruda that the calls belonged to none other than Reggie Mantle. 

Archie is too busy stealing glances at Veronica as he guides her through the multitude of cars in the lot that he accidentally walks straight into someone’s silver Prius, the sound of metal clanging drowning out the distant cheers of Riverdale high students. 

They both jump away and pause, hoping that the car alarm doesn’t start blaring, ruining their plans for a quick rendezvous, but to their mutual delight (and more so relief) the car stays silent. 

Veronica makes a reference about some guy called Orpheus that totally goes over Archie’s head, but he can guess that the gist of the story is that he should focus on trying to get them to the truck and not on looking at Veronica under the pale moonlight. 

They manage to stumble their way towards the truck and Archie is particularly proud of the fact he only fumbles unlocking the car door once. 

His initial plan, was to go round and open the door for Veronica in a futile attempt to be chivalrous, because really how much of a gentleman can you really be when you’re planning on having sex with your girlfriend in a truck? But when he looks up expecting to meet Veronicas eyes he finds that she’s already sat in the passenger seat, clearly waiting for him to join her.

He scrambles into the front seat after he throws his football guards into the back and tries to start the car whilst simultaneously putting his jersey back on. When he finally manages to get the keys in the ignition Veronica looks at him and drily states “took you long enough”.

he manages to reverse out the bay in record time. 

They only make it 10 minutes down one of the winding roads of Riverdale before Veronica tells him to pull into a clearing that’s approaching next to Thistlehouse.

It doesn’t escape Archie that this is the exact same woods he and Veronica we’re running through just a year ago fighting for their lives. He feels his chest swell with pride at the fact they not only survived that terrible night, but that he now has the chance to erase those terrible memories filled with fear with good ones- no great ones.

Based on previous experiences, both of them are aware that the truck’s battery is not reliable and that turning the lights on is not a smart idea. 

Used to the small, dark and cramped conditions Veronica successfully manages to unbuckle her seatbelt and swiftly move across the gear stick to situate herself in Archie’s lap, in a similar rehearsed and well practised manner Archie pushes the front seat back allowing them more room, whilst his hands move to settle on the curve of his waist. 

He smiles up at her, a cocky grin plastered all over his face, impressed with how efficiently they’ve managed to pull this off, Veronica responds by rolling her eyes and pinching his shoulder, a little harder than what can be accepted as playful. 

Her knees are resting on either side of his hips, her skirt is already being pushed up and he can already feel how wet she is through his football shorts and her panties. Needing her to be even closer than she already is, his hands drift from her waist to her ass to pull her even further forward eliciting a moan from her at the same time.

At this angle, it’s one of the only instances where she’s towering over him. The trees overhead distort the moonlight on her face. Her lips are obscured by the darkness apart from the cupids bow, the only other part of her face visible is her left eye where he can see the mascara imprinting onto her eyelid due to the humid weather. Most of her body is also being covered by the night, until she reaches behind to unzip her cheer top and pushes one of the straps down revealing her smooth collarbone. Archie feels his dick twitch as a response, and by the look on Veronica’s face he guesses that she does too. 

The sight makes him think of one of those pretentious film terms Veronica and jughead seem to argue about a lot - chiaroscuro- an image made of contrasts. 

Her glossy raven hair is a stark difference to the pale expanses of skin that is revealed by the light. The white accents of her cheer top and skirt seem to act like a beacon compared to the ill lit atmosphere of the car. 

Basically she was a fucking piece of art. 

He manages to rip away his gaze from her face and starts pressing sloppy kisses on the underneath of her jaw, his fingers grasp on to the flesh of her ass as she starts to whine and grind against him.

One of her hands is pulling at her hair whilst the other finds purchase on his shoulder “Archie” she says through gritted teeth picking up the pace of the rhythm.

He responds with a grunt, that he’s pretty sure that she doesn’t hear as it’s muffled against her neck. 

“Are you going to actually do something ?” 

Offended at the fact she’s clearly not impressed by the plethora of hickies he’s left on her neck he chooses that exact moment to bite down on her shoulder and smirking into her skin when she hisses in response. 

He moves his fingers towards the inside of her thigh and groans when he realizes that she’d already taken off her cheer shorts and revels in the fact her breath hitches when he pushes her panties to the side. 

Her back arches when he finally pushes two fingers in, Archie tries to ask her what she wants but his thoughts are liquified. Instead, like usual, he lets Veronica take control and set the rhythm. 

She continues riding his hand until she starts clenching around his fingers and Archie takes this as a cue to push his palm against her clit and she’s pushed over the edge as her face screws up and her lips mash together. 

She’s still on top of him, chest heaving when he retracts his fingers and Veronica makes a face when he wipes them against his shorts. He’s about to make a remark about how this was worth the wait when Veronica frees his dick from his boxers, her small hands wrapped around him causing his head to hit the back of the seat. He’s already rock hard and he has a feeling this is going to be over embarrassingly quickly.

His hands dig into her thighs as she guides him into her and he knows for a fact she’s going to have bruises in the morning. 

The feeling of being inside her for the first time in a week is overwhelming and he tries to focus on anything else but her, to stop himself coming before they’ve even moved. He goes to move his hand to the window in an attempt to ground himself, but the humid weather has helped fog up the windows and his hand slips, causing Veronica to cry out as his cold hand from the condensation falls on her ass. 

He moves to kiss her firmly on the lips, and he’s just about to slip his tongue into her mouth when she pulls away. Slightly offended he opens his eyes and sees Veronica blowing on her hair as her pony tail starts to come undone and her curly baby hairs start sticking to her clammy face. Her eyes are closed again as she focuses on the rhythm but he can tell that her hair is irritating her by the way she keeps on having to move it out of her face, and he distinctly remembers the multiple times Veronica had told him about her disdain for the hairstyle because it gives her headaches and didn’t think it suited her face shape. 

“Take your hair out” he manages to gasp, stopping his thrusts when Veronica seems to stop moving completely. 

She squints down at him, brow furrowed and folding her arms over her chest, she looks pissed and Archie has no idea why until she says “sorry if my hairstyle isn’t sexy enough for you Archie” a definitive edge to her voice.

He sits further up, almost slamming her into the wheel in the process shaking his head and stammering trying to reassure her that’s not why he wanted her to take out her hair, Veronica could have a Mohawk and he’s sure he’d still be attracted to her.

He tells her that, but she still seems to look skeptical and a little petulant. The ponytail is pretty loose by now so he tentatively reaches forward to pull the elastic out of her hair, carding his fingers through it as well as tucking the majority of it behind her ears

“Just know that you get irritated when your hairs up that’s all” he mumbles, cheeks burning red and suddenly finding whatever’s outside the window extremely interesting. 

She lets out a small laugh and now he’s the one that’s scowling. 

Veronica cradles his jaw in her hand, forcing him to look in her direction “I can’t believe you told me to make my hair down whilst where in the middle of having sex so I’d be more comfortable” she lets out another laugh “babe that’s so cute” 

Well cute wasn't exactly what he was going for, but he figured it was better than having Veronica being angry at him. 

In a desperate attempt to stop his girlfriend considering him to be cute, Archie once again began to thrust into her, fingers tangled in her hair just the way they both liked it.

Their kisses grew sloppier and their movements grew more erratic as they both reached their climax, Veronica clenching around him, finally being the thing to push him over the edge. 

Once they’ve cleaned up, Veronica presses a kiss to Archie's nose and gets off his lap and tells him to drive back to his house so they can put on real clothes and have a shower. They’re gonna be so late to Reggie’s after point but Archie can’t find it in himself to care.

Back home, Veronica instructs that they are to take separate showers (much to Archie’s chagrin) exclaiming that it would probably take less time for them to each have a shower rather than attempting to have one together. 

Whilst Veronica is in the bathroom, Archie moves throughout the kitchen trying to find something edible for her. She’s mentioned in the car ride back that she hadn’t eaten all day, and Archies need to protect and care for those around him starts blaring alarm bells at how unhealthy it is for someone to skip meals as well as all sorts of nutritional facts from coach Clayton flooding his mind.

Also whilst he loves drunk Veronica, he doesn’t like passed-out on the floor Veronica quiet as much, which is probably how she’d end up at Reggie’s if he didn’t convince her to eat something. He decides on making a sandwich so that she can eat it in the car on the way there considering they’ve officially past being “fashionably late” and are now just regular old fashioned late. 

He’s in the middle of deciding whether he should put more filling in said sandwich when Veronica appears in the kitchen. Hair down and wavy, faint dusting of freckles across her nose finally visible thanks to the summer sun, and he realizes she’s changed into a dress with a pattern he doesn’t know how to describe that she must have left in his room at some point.

“Ready when you are Archiekins”, she exclaims whilst rocking on her heels and smiling.

He swipes the sandwich off the table and puts it in a ziplock bag and walks round the other side of the kitchen island before extending his other hand out to Veronica, who gladly accepts and intertwines their fingers as they exit through the front door.

This time he does hold the door open for her when they get to the truck and Veronica kisses him on the cheek as thanks before getting into the passenger seat again. Archie walks over to the drivers side and the only sound he can hear is the crunch from his shoes on the gravel, the sound of Veronica's voice on the phone (probably informing Cheryl that they’re on the way), and the incessant hum of crickets in the bush opposite his house. It’s not a particularly memorable moment in Archie’s pretty eventful and exhilarating life, but there’s something just so peaceful and tranquil and wonderfully stereotypically teenagery about driving his girlfriend to a football party. Knowing that he’s going to break the curfew set by at least a couple of hours, as well as the rule that states Veronica is only allowed to sleep over when her parents are out of town, he just can’t shake the feeling of being fully content and happy with the life he is leading for the first time, arguably since his mother moved to Chicago.

They have to park nearly a block away from Reggie’s house because of all of the cars from Riverdale High students clogging up the street. 

The closer they get to his house, the more beer cans and streamers they find littered across the lawns, Archie grimaces knowing how particular Reggie’s neighbors can be about stuff like this, but more worryingly and importantly how Reggies Dad can be about stuff like this.

Before Veronica came to town there was always a battle between who had more money.Cheryl’s wealth was inherited throughout generations, prestigious and linked to the town's history, her house: large wooden panels and entirely gothic. Reggie’s house however was entirely modern minimalist and sleek, open plan with a big pool out back - basically the perfect house for a party. 

He used to be so envious of their wealth, he knew he had it good compared to people like Jughead, but his detached three bedroom house couldn’t exactly compare to these mansions. He realizes now that the home life of Cheryl and Reggie (and Veronica too) aren’t exactly things to be jealous over. 

By the time they reach Reggie’s lawn, there’s hardly an inch of grass that isn’t covered by cans and bottles, he carefully tries to guide Veronica across so they can go around to the back of the house, but she nearly stumbles numerous times as her heels sink into the ground. 

“I hope you’re prepared to carry me home Archiekins, I can hardly get across here sober, never mind when I’m four hard seltzer’s and numerous shots into the night” 

“Sure Veronica” he responds “that’s exactly what you want, me to carry you out of Reggie’s whilst the whole of Riverdale High watches” 

He hears a loud indignant huff from behind him and smirks at one of the rare occasions he manages to one up her. 

They eventually make it to the patio in Reggie’s back yard, much to Veronicas relief as she can finally walk steadily, and Archie’s disappointment as she doesn’t need to hold his hand anymore. 

She still clasping onto it though, and Archie’s smirk from before turns to a grin, the kind that Veronica calls “dorky” all the time.

It’s probably a good thing that Veronica insists on grabbing onto his hand, as a few seconds later a severely intoxicated Reggie bounds over drinks in hand and nearly wipes her out entirely as he halts to a stop just a little too late and with no coordination

He passes a solo cup to both of them, Veronica unceremoniously dumps hers straight into Archie’s, Archie rolls his eyes knowing that not even at a high school party would she be caught drinking beer from a keg.

He downs his drink immediately, hating being the only sober one in a room, trying to hide the grimace from cheap, warm keg beer. 

Reggie laughs clearly noticing his wince and tells him he just needs another. Archie turns his head to Veronica who’s already being handed a bottle of vodka from Kevin taking a swig from it immediately, and decides it’s ok for him to follow Reggie to the nearest keg. 

The barrel is set upon one of the thin strips of grass next to the path to the pool, and from experience he knows this is totally gonna wreck the grass.

“Reggie...”, Archie sighs looking up at him as he simultaneously fills another red cup “is your Dad okay with this?”

“Oh yeah totally fine bro, the old man’s just upstairs watching TV, probably golf or something” 

Whether Reggie’s is too drunk to catch onto what Archie's Insinuating or trying to brush off the issue, he isn’t sure so he tries again, this time placing a reassuring hand onto his football-jacket clad shoulder. 

“But is he going to be okay with all this mess, once everybody’s gone home and it’s just you two left in the house”

he feels Reggie falter at this, sending a spray of beer over the two of them as he cracks one of the solo cups in his hands and throws it to the floor, with a little more force than what can be deemed casual. 

“He’s not like that anymore” Reggie admits through a clenched jaw “doesn’t change what happened beforehand, but… it’s good now” 

Archie feels like a shitty friend for bringing it up, but he had to know that this party wasn’t costing Reggie a lot more than a couple of hundred dollars on booze.

“Alright” he nods, pretending he doesn’t see Reggie furiously wiping tears on his sleeve “ but if he gets frustrated about tonight or- or any other night, you can call me you know, there’s always a spare room at my place for you, okay?” 

“Okay” he responds, holding up his cup to cheers with Archie, to which he happily obliges.

He spends most of the night at the sidelines with Reggie, drinking cup after cup of beer and catching up on what seems like years. Archie knows that he’s let Reggie down over the past few years, caught up in his own shit and murder mysteries to realize his friend was struggling too. It’s too late to make up for that time, it’s another regret that’s going to have to weigh on his shoulders, but he can try and at least make up for it now.

He gets pretty drunk, manages to make his way towards the back door before he leans against one of the house walls for a while as he watches the drunken actions of his friends around him. Kevin is the first to jump into the pool (followed by Fangs and Sweetpea) , Cheryl keeps on fighting with Reggie over the playlist, completely insistent that no party can be successful without at least one Hayley Kiyoko song and Reggie seems to be passed out on one of the sun lounger now completely covered in red solo cups. 

His world continues in a series of stagnant images and motion blur for another hour, until the first few people start to go home and someone starts handing out copious amounts of jingle jangle.

This sobers Archie up slightly to the point where he’s just tipsy instead of straight up drunk , the God awful pinstriped straws remind Archie of nothing but terrible times. A terrible time in his life in general, but specifically that terrible night in the hotel with Nick St.Clair. 

He feels his skin erupt into goosebumps at the memory despite the humid June air.

Subconsciously, his eyes search for Veronica and he immediately finds her. She's one of the only people still dancing in the middle of the yard with Cheryl and Toni, there trying to choreograph a dance and it’s going semi successfully considering how drunk they all are until Cheryl trips and lands face first into the grass. 

He notices that Veronica’s feet are bare as she stomps her foot on the ground in laughter, clapping her hands and throwing her head back. She looks happy, and beautiful and it’s one of those moments Archie wants to remember forever - trapped in one of those photos you get as a kid, that when you tilt them they change motion slightly. 

Not that anybody’s asking, but Archies sure if someone asked him what he’d like to put into one of those frames out of everything in the world he’d choose Veronicas laughter over and over again.

He’s so busy thinking about Veronica in his somewhat inebriated state that he doesn’t see real life Veronica running on wobbly legs in his direction. She has more control over her limbs than Reggie did earlier on in the night, but it’s still by far the most ungrateful Archie has ever seen Veronica move.

“Archiekins!” She shouts from the distance

Archie loves drunk Veronica, but he doesn’t get to see her often. Her alcohol tolerance is a lot higher than everyone else’s, years of experience clubbing in New York under her *insert designers name he doesn’t know how to pronounce* belt. The last time he had seen her this wasted, was probably the final weekend before senior year began as he, Veronica, Betty and Jughead sat around the Pembrooke passing a bottle of Don Julio back and forth. One moment their movements were sloppy and a little miscalculated, the next they were all passed out on the floor sprawled on top of one another.

He’s a little confused as to how she’s gotten so drunk, when he remembers that the only thing she’d eaten all day was a turkey sandwich. 

She’s clearly struggling to get to him, so like always, Archie meets her halfway in the middle of the lawn. She’s a lot drunker than he is so he just pulls her in for a hug and presses a kiss to the top of her head, which is met with a comfortable sigh. 

“Hey” he says resting his chin on her hair, swaying slightly, whether it’s from drunkness or the music he’s not too sure.

She pulls away from the hug, she’s so tiny like this, without her heels and emotional guard up due to the alcohol. Despite the height difference their faces are only mere inches apart as she rises up on her tiptoes, there’s still a few people left, but they're all inside leaving their voices muffled- along with the music. 

Darkness seems to be all around them, the only thing in his peripheral vision is her and suddenly he’s transported back to a cramped closet at age 16 in what feels like the exact same surroundings and with the exact same girl. How stupid he must have been to suggest that he’d been in love before then and what an utter moron for suggesting that whatever they were doing in Thornhill was wrong, in any sense of the word. 

“Hi” she says looking up at him, he’s about to respond back with the same thing when she looks too far up, eyes rolling to the back of her head as her body moves towards the floor.

“Woah, woah, woah” he say helping her rebalance, which is kind of difficult considering all of the squirming she’s doing because of the laughter “let’s go home, alright?” he asks, trying not to chuckle in the process. 

Leaving Reggie’s house seems to turn Veronica from practically asleep, to full of energy, and as expected they forget to bring her heels meaning that Archie has to walk home in nothing but socks as Veronica wears his trainers which are at least 7 sizes too big for her. She also insisted despite the warm weather to wear his jacket on the way back too. 

“Hey! Hey Archie” she gasps as she swings their joined hands back and forth quite aggressively , in what he assumes is supposed to be a whisper, but is actually so loud that the whole neighborhood can hear. 

“Yeah” 

“Let’s go have a quickie in the woods” she shouts as Archie cringes at the volume of her voice 

“Babe, we already had sex in the woods once today I think that’s probably a good quota” 

She starts laughing again “hey good for us!” and holds out her other hand clearly indicating for a high five.

So basically drunk Veronica is a gross frat boy.

“I’m not high diving you because we had sex in the woods” he replies looking at her in horror, which just sends her into more peels of laughter. 

They continue to walk down the streets of Riverdale, it’s close to morning now and whilst the sky is still dark it’s trying to lighten. Archie already feels a hangover coming on and the birds chirping really isn’t helping. 

He has a hand on Veronicas back in an attempt to guide her in the right direction and in a straight line. She’s still pretty drunk so it takes them a lot longer than usual to get back to Elm street. 

Thankful, that his mom was back in Chicago working on a high profile case, Archie ushers Veronica through the front door and locking it behind him. 

He stares ahead into the kitchen contemplating whether to tidy up the mess he left hours beforehand trying to find sandwich ingredients, but Veronica is already making her way up the stairs and the thought of his bed is so enticing right now.

It suddenly hits Archie how truly exhausted he is, he’s been up at the crack of dawn everyday for the past two weeks, had pushed his body to the extreme throughout the game game tonight, and as much as he hates to admit it, he always sleeps better with Veronica by his side. Not seeing her at all for the week by his side or (preferably) in his bed has made his sleeping spotty at best. 

By the time he reaches his room she’s already passed out,lying on her side, curled up and tucked into the corner facing the wall. She’s under the plaid duvet but he can tell she still has her dress on, she’s gonna kill him in the morning for not waking her up so she can take her makeup off- but he just doesn’t have the heart to wake her. 

It takes him a Herculean effort to strip off to his boxers, his limbs feel like lead and there’s a dull ache rattling through his skull, he has to actually stop himself from groaning when he gets underneath the covers. 

He rolls over to wrap an arm around her stomach and bury his face into her hair, smiling when he feels her moving backwards slightly to get closer. 

He’s in the middle of thinking what he can say to express how happy he feels right now. How good it feels to be able to go to a dumb high school party, with the girl he loves and not have to worry about Murderers or the mafia or cults. He wants to tell her how much he loves her, even though he tells her everyday but it never seems enough, he’s about to tell her all of the cliche shit he feels about her that he doesn’t even know if he can put into words to express it properly, when she turns around to face him.

“Archie” she whispers, her words slurring slightly and accidentally poking him on the face when she moves to stroke his cheek

“What?” He replies

“You just said all that out loud”


	2. The last Formal- Senior Prom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!!! it's me!!! How are you doing it's been a while? 
> 
> I would like to apologise about how long it's taken me to get this second chapter posted. I got into a real writing rhythm during lockdown but then personal stuff happened and I started university and it's safe to say that rhythm was heavily disturbed. 
> 
> Also, this chapter is dedicated to prom, and unfortunately I didn't get to attend my own so I held a little bit of resentment towards this pic which put me off writing it. 
> 
> Anyway, even though it's extremely delayed I hope you enjoy the chapter xo

He hopes that Veronica doesn’t realise his hands are sweatier than usual as they walk into the main school building from the car park, if she does he’ll just blame it on the fact he’s wearing a long sleeve t-shirt in the warm July weather. 

Momentarily letting go of her hand to open the door to the hallway, Archie takes the chance to sneak a look at Veronica and is glad to see that she is not paying him any attention and instead completely enamoured by something on her phone he’s sure he wouldn’t understand. He’s also glad that once they’re through the door she subconsciously offers her hand for him to hold again. He’s mid smirk when he jumps at the sound of the intercom being switched on, the high pitch whine from the feedback causing him to wince, the tinny sound of Mr. Honey’s voice, not helping the situation either. 

“Attention all students” the monotonous voice begins, “starting today preparation for the senior’s prom throughout the ages will begin” Archie hears a melancholic sigh from the intercom and laughs at how much their principal seems to hate anything in relation to fun, which is followed by “please grab your tickets from either Ms. Blossom or Ms. Topaz who will be selling them effectively immediately”

The sound from the hall definitely picks up after the announcement, but not as much as previous years, Riverdale High’s reputation for formals and proms have seriously declined over the past few years, which gives Archie all the more motivation to try and give Veronica a perfect one so she has at least one positive experience. 

“Well, whilst I’m certainly looking forward to prom significantly more than last year now that I have a dashing piece of arm candy I can officially call my beau to go with me, I can’t lie I am also secretly devastated there will be no more prom Kings and Queens” Veronica chooses this moment to finally look up from her phone as they reach her locker and place a hand over Archie’s chest, “you would have looked absolutely charming in a crown Archiekins”.

Rolling his eyes, Archie carefully takes the hand from his chest and places a delicate kiss on Veronica’s knuckles before slightly bowing “and who has declared that we can’t be prom royalty?” he asks with his signature boyish smile

“That would be Cheryl Blossom who has just posted all over her socials that no one is allowed to run for prom King and Queen this year as it would mess with her and Toni’s Riverdale High legacy”

“So it’s a dictatorship we’re under then”

Veronica laughs slightly at his joke even though he’s not entirely sure he’s used the right political term and he uses the opportunity to pinch her side to indicate he’s finished with discussing Cheryl Blossom’s undemocratic rule of the high school.

She takes this moment to turn to open her locker, which Archie isn’t quite prepared for so he says the first thing that comes to mind “well, it doesn’t really matter because if you ask me you’re much more of a Goddess than a Queen anyway” 

He can feel his face heat up at the honestly quite crass comment he’s just made and he’s certain that his ears have turned an almost crimson red, and if the way Veronica’s face scrunches up; he’s certain she wasn’t too fond of his attempted compliment either. 

She pauses from opening her locker however, and that’s the main thing.

His finger begins to trail down her arm, and he’s secretly smug at the fact he can see the tiny goosebumps forming there due to the short sleeved collared shirt she’s wearing, her arm falters due to his movement and moves from her locker back down to her side. Clearly enjoying his ministrations. When he reaches her hand, she stops him and curls her finger around his wrist before looking up and giving him a bashful smile, her eyelashes look impeccably long and she’s completely doe eyed from this angle due to their height difference, he loves how innocent Veronica can look at certain times and then like complete sin a mere few seconds later, purely from just the look in her eyes. 

Leaning against the lockers with their hands still intertwined Archie asks if within the past few minutes she’s decided what color dress she’s decided on so he knows what colour his tie needs to be, to which she immediately drops his hand and folds her arms, bashful eyes and smile gone immediately replaced by squinted eyes. 

“Archibald Andrews, if you think that is an acceptable way to ask me to prom, especially considering we weren’t even together at the last one, then you are seriously going to have to step up you’re game” swiftly turning away from him, curled hair whipping his arm she begins to try and open her locker, fingers fumbling from her increasing frustration at his nonchalant comment and lack of effort of actually asking her. “Now, I’m not asking for you to stand on the cafeteria table and declare your love for me with balloons and flowers like a grovelling Seth Cohen to Summer Roberts but a bit more effort could have been-”

Veronica stopped mid sentence when she came face to face with a large bouquet of flowers protruding from her locker with a lopsided card placed in the centre with the word “Prom?” written on it and adorned with a small chain bracelet on the side. 

Now Archie knew that neither his penmanship nor his calligraphy was very good and that this was probably the cheapest bouquet of flowers Veronica had ever received, but he hoped that his effort of handwriting the card and getting a bouquet of baby's breath, lilies and some other pale blue flowers to match Veronica’s bedroom was appreciated and deemed well enough for a “promposal”. 

“Oh babe” she hums still looking at the locker as Archie feels his palms start to sweat once more, as she only ever calls him that when she feels sorry for and or pities him. He starts to realize that the flowers are slightly crushed in the locker and his penmanship is in fact really sloppy and hastily moves forward towards her in the need to defend his attempt at asking her to prom. 

“I know it’s not a lot Ronnie, but I really did try, and the whole point was to like be the first person to ask you to prom. I literally had to beg Cheryl weeks ago to tell me when prom was going to be announced so I could set everything up -by the way you now have to give Cheryl free cherry coca-cola at the diner for a month-”

He was broken out of his ramble by Veronica placing her hands on his face and forcing him to look at her. 

“Archie… Archie- hey… I love it”

“You do?” he asks quietly, hands slowly coming up to hold her wrists on either side of his face, that was slowly returning to both a normal temperature and color.

“I do” she replied pulling him down for a relatively chaste kiss due to the plethora of people in the hallway (not like that had ever stopped them before, but they had made a promise to Betty and Jughead to be a little less heavy on the PDA ever since they caught them in a compromising position in one of the science classrooms) 

“And plus” she stated wistfully whilst slamming shut her locker door, trailing down the corridor, red soles echoing, gaze determinedly fixed straight ahead and grip tight on Archie’s wrist “excellent taste on matching the flowers to my bedroom decor, lover” 

It takes him a few seconds to realize that she never actually got what she was after in her locker, too busy hoping no one heard that nickname and the feel of her fingers on his wrist.

“Veronica, didn’t you actually need to get something from your locker for biology first period?”

“Oh, we’re not going to Mr. Beaker’s lesson” Veronica replied, throwing him a sultry look over her shoulder, “ you and I, my little Patrick Verona are heading straight to our favorite janitors closet”. 

When Archie walks into the student lounge merely a few hours later and is met with Veronica smirking at him from one of couches, all he can think about is the hickey he left on her thigh in the closet, rather than the conversation Reggie is attempting to have with him about who he should take to the prom. 

Veronica on the other hand, seems fairly concentrated already on deciding what they’re going to do for prom. She’s sat in front of one of the old tables, the entire wooden surface completely covered with vintage prom photos: ranging from weird fringe dresses to big puffy ones that Archie has no idea how to describe the intricacies of.

Betty and Jughead are on the other side of the table, Betty sat on the arm looking interested in all of the photos Veronica has splayed on the table with Jughead’s arm wrapped around her waist and sat in the chair - whose face has seemed to have drained of all colour at the topic of prom. Archie considers himself to be in the middle of the two in regards to the theme, he isn’t really too bothered what he’s wearing to prom as long as he gets to take Veronica out of whatever she’s wearing at the end of the night- but apart of him is glad the theme this year is a little better than the medieval stuff they had to wear the year before. 

He sits himself down next to Veronica and places his palm over her stocking clad thigh, she barely notices his presence as she sits bent over: pen in one manicured hand furiously scribbling notes onto a photo of a man in a very ruffled suit, and the other tightly gripping a coffee. 

A few minutes pass by before Archie, Betty and Jughead all start to share concerned looks over Veronicas intense note taking and scribbling. 

“Babe, you don’t have to have our outfits sorted by today, we have at least a few months” Archie says softly turning his head to look at Veronica and pointedly ignoring Jughead’s gagging gesture at the use of the nickname.

“I know” she whines, turning to face the three of them, “but this is the last chance we have to have a successful formal together before we graduate, and I for one am a little sick of all our proms looking a little too Carrie and not enough she’s all that” 

“What about the first one we had?” Jughead chimes in 

“Oh please” Veronica replies squinting at the boy in the beanie, “my first formal at Riverdale ended in a scarily accurate homage to a Twins Peak episode with Jason’s body being found by the river” 

“And then our most recent one ended with me being chased by a gargoyle king” Betty adds nodding “you really are right V, we don’t have a good track record when it comes to dances” clearly trying to be sympathetic to her best friends cause

Archie took Betty speaking as an opportunity whilst Veronica was distracted to reach over and take her glasses from her face, unfortunately knowing from experience the terrible migraines she’d get if she left them on for too long and placed them on top of another man wearing a ruffled suit. 

“I’m just saying” interjects Jughead, unwrapping his arm from around Betty and absentmindedly shuffling through all the magazine cut outs, “couldn’t we technically still use our outfits from last years prom if the theme is through the ages”

Veronica and Betty’s horrified faces inform Archie that they too, did not enjoy dressing up like they were from the 14th century last year either. 

“First of all” Veronica responds pointing a finger in Jughead’s general vicinity, “Recycling outfits is never acceptable, but at a formal event- you must have lost your mind. Second of all-”

“Well some of us don't have a trust fund to finance all of the outfits we would like-” 

“Oh please- you have enough flannels and suspenders already to conjure up some grunge prom look from the 90’s without spending a single penny so-

“Can you guys please not argue for one entire conversation?” Betty (always the pacifist) pleads followed by an indignant sigh and her arms looping over Jughead’s to calm him down. 

Archie follows suit by placing his arm over Veronica and using the heel of his hand to massage between her shoulder blades. Her eyes are still glaring at Jughead, but she also leans back to settle into Archie’s side, so he classes that as a win. 

“Anyways… what I was going to suggest is that we all -or specifically B and I- go get our dresses together. As much as I do adore a Rodarte or a Miu Miu, thrifting is becoming increasingly more popular so I thought it might be fun to get our dresses from one of Riverdale’s quirkiest little boutiques” she says, voice raising at the end of the sentence from excitement at the prospect and hands clasped in joy. 

They all agree to go to one of the boutiques the following weekend to try and find their vintage outfits- even Jughead, who is persuaded through the guise of the old records that should be at the stores- and spend the rest of lunch bickering between themselves over what decade each couple should be. Veronica and jughead of course both stake claim to the 60’s, but compromise when Betty mentions her love of Grace Kelly’s fashion and Archie pipes up that the 70’s certainly have the best music. As much as Veronica and Jughead’s arguing irritates him at times its nice that it comes from a place of friendship now, rather than accusations about parents or moral and ethical standings- he knows that they still claim there’s no friendship between them and that they are nothing more than acquaintances, but he does notice the way she compliments him on his knowledge of fashion from these decades and the way Jughead responds by telling her the only one with more knowledge on the topic is herself.

And the small smiles on both of their faces afterwards after finally finding some sort of common ground. 

Archie feels like this is the way it should be - a real friendship group, a real family. It’s certainly messy and they all argue pretty much constantly but it never seems to be from a place of malice, he can feel a smile growing on his face at the prospect of these people he holds so close to his heart also being close with one another and attempts to hide it by placing a kiss in Veronica’s hair, to which she immediately chastises him for and spends the next ten seconds desperately trying to flatten it down again. The smile is still on his face when he walks into history, but quickly disappears when Reggie asks if the reason he’s grinning is because he and Veronica had went back to the janitors closet during lunch. 

So she might have lied to them slightly. 

It’s not as much a quaint and quirky vintage store in Riverdale as it is a full boutique that she’s rented out for the day three towns over. 

Hopping out the truck (she figures it’s at least better than the Jalopy) Veronica makes her way over to Betty’s car with Archie trailing behind her. She can hear Jughead grumbling from the car that this place does not in fact look like it sells records, but she ignores him in favor of greeting her bestie with a hug and dragging her towards the entrance of the store. 

The inside is nothing but pristine white and looks like it could fit comfortably in a magazine spread along with photos of Kimye’s wedding. Upon opening the door she is immediately greeted with a flute of champagne, which her and Betty happily oblige to, in the back of her head Veronica can’t help but think of a future time in her life where she’ll be walking into a similar setting hoping to find the dream dress, just for a more momentous occasion. 

Unlike a bridal store, the boutique does offer formal clothing for men on the opposite side of the room. So while Archie and Jughead awkwardly shuffle through the racks of tuxedos that seem to have both the bells and the whistles on them Veronica and Betty rifle through all the clothing until their arms can barely bear the weight of all the dresses. 

Whilst Veronica’s handful seems to be a plethora of silks, satins and tulle Betty’s pile seems to be a lot simpler: in both material and style. 

Veronica unceremoniously dumps all of her clothes outside her dressing room door and reaches out to Betty before she escapes behind the cream curtain. 

“You know all of this stuff is in your price range B. The boutique might be a little fancier than you expected but I would never make you uncomfortable by taking you anywhere you couldn’t afford”

Betty pauses for a second before also dumping her clothes on the ground and turning to face her best friend “I love you V, you know I do” she says earnestly “but sometimes it’s really difficult to be friends with you” Veronica flinches at the harsh words but can see that Betty has more to say, “we’d agreed to just go to some local place for dresses, it’s already cost me half my allowance in petrol to get here and then we turn up at this ridiculously expensive place that hands me glasses of champagne that probably cost more than my entire outfit so how am I supposed to know if I can afford any of this stuff if they don’t even put the prices on the damn things” 

“I’m sorry” she whispers, scared that if she spoke normally her voice would crack. 

This time it's Betty who steps closer to her and reaches out an arm “no, you don’t have to be… just think about it next time okay” 

and that's that. 

They spend the next 30 minutes trying on at least fifteen dresses, each one more ridiculous than the last. Veronica tries on a 70’s inspired jumpsuit that is tangerine orange with sleeves that reach her feet that sends them into peels of laughter, whilst a particularly hideous taffeta dress that Betty tries on leaves them laughing for at least five minutes. The highlight of the day however, had to be when they turn their head round the corner to see how the boys are doing and are met with Jughead unironically wearing a Fedora with a gigantic plume coming out the top and Archie apparently having an argument with some heinous infinity scarf in a mirror. 

After they’ve finished laughing Veronica returns to her dressing room to try on the only dress that peaked her interest. It doesn’t fit the theme of the prom but it is certainly beautiful: layers of beige tulle that brings out the natural tan of her complexion and creates an A-line flowy silhouette, adorned with embroidered flowers and billowing sleeves that drape off her shoulder. Once she’s in the dress she attempts to lace up the back to no avail and calls for Betty to help. 

There’s no response and she’s about to call again when a loud knock comes from the wall next to her. 

“Erm.. Ronnie?” she hears Archie’s voice ask tentatively, “it’s just me, Betty and Jug had to leave because of something that happened with Charles… I didn’t catch any details”

“Oh” she replies followed by silence, she can’t lie she’s a little upset that they left early, but she also knows how twisted and complicated the Jones- Cooper family tree can be. 

She turns to face the mirror, cocking her head to one side trying to evaluate how much she likes the dress and calls back outside the dressing room to Archie “Archiekins could you help me into this please” 

Now he’s silent for a few seconds. 

“Isn’t it bad luck to see you in your dress before prom?” and it's the fact he asks so earnestly that causes Veronica to laugh, dress slipping further down her shoulders as she does so. 

“That’s for when we get married babe” she says, breath only hitching on the last word as she realizes she’s just implied they’re going to get married one day. If Archie notices he doesn’t say anything which she’s grateful for.

She feels more than hears him enter the dressing room, as the cold air from opening the curtain wafts against her shoulder and she moves her hair to one side. 

She can feel herself holding in her breath and doesn’t exhale until she feels Archie’s hands resting on her bare shoulders and subconsciously leans back into his touch, head rolling back in the process. 

He starts pressing kisses against her neck, the dress slipping further down her front and past her bra from her labored breathing. 

Archie places a particularly wet kiss behind her ear and Veronica can’t take it anymore and twists her body round to capture his lips in hers and tangle her hand in his hair. His tongue slips into her mouth for only a few short seconds before he pulls away. When Archie breaks the kiss Veronica is nearly embarrassed by the small whine that leaves her mouth, and if the twitch from Archie’s dick against her ass indicates anything, it’s that he didn’t want to stop kissing her either. 

“Veronica” he muffles into her collarbone “is there any chance anyone could walk in right now?”

She responds by biting her lip and shaking her head as she doesn’t quite trust her voice, Archie’s hands sneak around her waist before she finally manages to say “I told all the workers that the dressing rooms were off limits” 

She can feel Archie smiling against her neck at the revelation that they’re all alone and it turns her on even more. 

“Good,” 

So does that. 

They stumble their way to the back of the room and Veronica is expecting for her back to hit a wall, but is surprised when Archie backs her onto the bench, knees buckling at the contact and falling onto the seat.

Before she can question what's happening Archie drops to his knees and pushes the many layers of fabric up her waist. On instinct Veronica opens her legs and he catches one of her ankles in his wrist. 

He kisses the inside of her calf and looks up at her before saying “God you look so beautiful” and Veronica could cry at how much she wants him. Taking matters into her own hands she firmly places the leg he’s not holding over his shoulder and shimmies forward slightly on the bench. 

Travelling up her leg with kisses Archie stops at her thigh and lays his head there for a second, her vision of him slightly obscured due to the many layers of tulle. 

“Do you know how much I wanted to do this to you at prom last year?” he admits, the look on his face way too innocent for what he’s about to do and the fact that his hands have reached underneath her dress to pull down her lace panties. She lifts her hips up to make it easier for him and bucks forward slightly when his knuckles graze over centre. 

A shaky hand reaches out to cradle the side of his face, thumb rubbing over his cheek as he continues “I wanted you so badly, you have no idea” and she does. She does know, because she wanted him just as bad too. And the fact that she can cave him right here, right now and he can have her in the same way sends another jolt of pleasure straight to her core. 

Her hands purchase for grip on the bench as Archie finally moves towards her entrance and wraps his mouth around her clit.

Veronica cries out and her back arches when he inserts two fingers and she’s biting down so hard on her lip she’s sure it will start to bleed soon, her eyes are also scrunched close and her legs are already trembling at the fast pace Archie is creating and the fact she was ridiculously turned on before he even touched her.

She can feel herself being close to the edge and by the way Archie begins to speed up even further she guesses that he knows it too. Quickly Veronica moves her hand from the bench and bites down on her fist at an attempt to muffle her sounds when she comes a few seconds later, legs falling to the side of Archie’s torso and having to drag him away from her core, even his breath fanning against her folds was too overstimulating. 

They sit there panting against each other for God knows how long, before Archie stands up, clearly hard through his jeans and offers a hand to help Veronica up, which she gladly accepts considering how weak her legs still feel. Veronica slowly puts her clothes back on and steps out of the dress when Archie comments that she’s going to have to buy it now whether she wears it for prom or not. 

She buys the dress anyway and walks out of the boutique holding Archie’s hand and it’s safe to say that in the car ride back to the Andrew’s she gives the best blow job of her life. 

The upcoming weeks seem to be some of the busiest in Veronica’s life, whether she’s focusing on prom, graduation or college her mind seems to be constantly preoccupied which is why she’s so glad to be spending her saturday night doing absolutely nothing lying in Archie’s room, focused on one of his old rock posters and its curling corners, wondering how long it has left before it completely falls off the wall. 

Archie’s sat against the headboard completely shirtless, and her back is against his chest, his natural furnace-strength body heat radiating warmth against her to the point where she has to have one of her legs poking out the plaid duvet to cool off, whilst Archie is slowly tapping the rhythm of “crimson and clover” on her wrist as it plays out of his record player. 

She’s taken out of her reverie when Archie nuzzles his chin into her shoulder, the coarse stubble making her shiver

“you all ready for tomorrow?” he asks

Realistically she’s not. 

She obviously has her outfit completely sorted, but there’s a patch of her leg she missed whilst waxing, she’s still slightly unsure about what to do for her makeup and Betty has already been blowing up her phone stressing over the details in her own outfit and that the poodle skirt makes her look more like a toddlers and tiara contestant than a senior going to her prom - but frankly Veronica doesn’t care. 

Over the past few years she’s learned that not everything in life has to be so polished looking, both in her outfits and especially her lifestyle. Sure she’s going to grovel tomorrow when her eyeshadow doesn’t look quite right but right now, in this very moment she wouldn’t swap the feel of Archie’s body around her and the steady thrum of his heartbeat for anything. They’ve had many conversation about this before, about how nice it is to have time for themselves, to be able to participate in the most mundane, cliche teenage relationship they know- far away from scheming parents and the Game of Thrones style family tree Betty and Jughead still find themselves in the midst of. 

It’s fair to say that her and Archie have led a pretty extraordinary life for their age so far, and she loves that she now gets to explore the beauty of the ordinary. 

“Everything’s sorted and ready to go” she replies and startles when her phone buzzes from the bedside table again, phone screen illuminating the room, “Looks I can’t say the same for Betty though, she’s still stressed her dress is too immature” 

“Oh please” Archie replies, reaching over to turn her phone onto Airplane mode “I’m sure Jughead would be happy if she turned up in a trash bag”

“Or like Marilyn Monroe’s potato sack dress, it is still in fitting with the theme and decade” 

“Anyway, whatever Betty looks like she's going to look great compared to what Jughead is planning to do with his hair” he chuckles 

This being the first Veronica hears from anyone that Jughead is planning to do anything experimental to his hair she bristles in Archie’s arms and turns around to pinch his sides.

“Archie Andrews I demand that you tell me absolutely immediately what that Jason Dean is planning on doing to his hair, I mean I was half expecting him to turn up in that ragged beanie so I guess this could be a positive, but I highly doubt it."

“I don’t know what the hairstyle is called Ronnie” he admits, scratching the back of his head clearly trying to think of a way to describe it to her “It’s sort of the hairstyle they all wear in those greaser films, like Danny from Grease I guess”

“A pompadour. Are you telling me Jughead Jones is planning on turning up to prom in a pompadour” 

When Archie’s reply is simply a nod of his head Veronica sighs and leans back onto his chest before getting comfortably situated, clearly not in the mood to debate the dubious and often pretentious styling of Jughead Jones. 

One second later she sat up again having changed her mind. 

“I mean it’s not what I would have chosen” she adds a hand on her chest, “He is absolutely too scrawny to pull that off type of hairstyle, maybe someone with your stature and muscles could pull it off a little better Archiekins”

She’s met with his terrified eyes and his hair flops over his eyes he shakes his head as he says “I am not turning up to prom in a pomeranian-”

“Pompadour-” she replies, nimble fingers moving his hair out of the way. 

“Whatever it’s called. I'm not doing it.” 

She’s fully turned around now and is practically straddling him, and takes the opportunity to grab his face in her hands and press a kiss to his forehead “and it’s precisely the fact that you will not turn up to prom looking like Johnny Depp’s Crybaby that I’m in love you… that Jughead Jones is certainly an interesting creature” Veronica absentmindedly admits whilst stroking his ears. 

Putting his arms around her waist again and pulling her closely, Archie looks directly into her eyes as he deadpans “please never mention the words Jughead and love in the same sentence ever again” and she nearly clashes their teeth together from laughter when she leans in to kiss him. 

A few hours later she makes it back to the Pembrooke and is so tired that she falls asleep on top of the comforter only just managing to get her clothes off, and seriously berates herself in the morning when she sees just how big the patch she missed from her legs actually is. 

Archie gets out of the firebird (Veronica insisted she wasn’t turning up to prom in the Jalopy or the truck) and is only minimally concerned that his trousers are going to split. When he agreed on the 1970’s theme with her he was more focused on all of the music icons of the decade to actually remember some of the ridiculous fashion. The tapered trousers are probably the tightest thing he’s ever worn (including what he had to wear for wrestling) and the light blue color of the suit leaves little to the imagine, he’s suddenly very glad that 70's also dictated he was to wear an oversized blazer- even if he did neglect the ruffled shirt that was supposed to go underneath. 

The ride in the elevator seems to last twice as long as it normally does and he finds himself inexplicably nervous for some reason, somewhere in the back of his head he thinks it probably has something to do with the less than stellar reputation Riverdale has for less than stellar high school events. 

He’s standing outside of the Lodge’s door and just about to knock when the door flies open and Veronica is standing on the other side smiling with her teeth, and rocking back and forth in her heels clearly feeling as nervous as he is. 

He looks her up and down, and then up and down again, somehow managing to comprehend the thought that this is a totally different dress to the one she tried on in the boutique but that’s all he manages before his brain short circuits. 

Archie knew that her dress was green, but the muted green seems to bring out her tanned complexion. It’s a tight material that he thinks might be satin that is tight around her body with small straps and the skirt pools around her feet, the slit that goes right up to her thigh he’s pretty sure wouldn't be allowed at a high school in the 70’s but he’s definitely not going to complain. 

She leans against the door frame and bats her eyelashes before asking “Are you gonna stand there all night Archiekins, because I’m sure we have a dance to go to” and he’s pretty sure he trips on his flared trousers as he steps into the apartment when Veronica shuts the door behind him. 

Now he’s face to face with her he can see more detail in her outfit. She’s wearing some sort of mesh shall with embroidered flowers on to emulate the decade a little bit more, they also match the fake white flowers she’s placed throughout her hair, which is big and puffy with brushed out curls that remind him of the Charlie’s angel VHS tapes his mom and Dad would watch on saturday mornings. 

After dating Veronica for years he’s well acquainted with her makeup routine, it’s quite dark and she normally refuses to leave the house unless her liquid eyeliner is deemed adequate enough- but this is completely different. She has this light purple shimmery stuff all over her eyelids and her eyelashes are completely which makes it look like she has tiny snowflakes clinging to them. 

“It would be nice if you said something” she teases, but he can hear the edge of insecurity to her voice and his tongue feels like lead as he tries to come up with a compliment that seems good enough

“Veronica…” he whispers holding out a hand for her to hold onto “you seriously look like a goddess tonight” she blushes at the sincerity of his voice but he continues “you look, you look like..." he takes a deep breathe as he eventually seems to finalise her beauty you are.. everything” 

Her eyes suddenly turn stern and he’s cared he says something wrong when she gently pushes against his chest “If you dare make me cry Archie, they don’t make white mascara in waterproof varieties you know”

“Sorry” he replies, but the smile on his face indicates he isn’t at all, not in the slightest. He places his hand over the one she’s put on his chest. 

Freeing her hand she starts smoothing down the pleats of his blazer “I forgot to mention that you look particularly handsome this evening too”. 

He leans down to kiss her when Hermione comes round the corner, Hermosa in tow behind her demanding that she needs photos of the two of them. 

By the time Hermione is finished, even Veronica is tired of getting her photo taken and she cant help but think how tortured Betty and specifically Jughead must be feeling at the thousands of photos that Alice must be forcing them to take. 

Walking down the entrance of the Pembrooke, Archie opens the car door for her and she can’t help but stare at his ass and thigh muscles in the tight trousers, and a small part of her wants to say fuck it and miss the prom altogether and spend the night just the two of them in any small, cramped and dark place they can find. She finds the inner strength to get in the car and not jump him right there and Archie stalls twice because he can hardly move in his trousers. 

They spend so long bickering in the car about what song to play that by the time they finally settle on “Vienna” by Billy Joel they’re practically at the school. Ever the gentlemen, once they pull up Archie helps her out of the car and offers her one of his arms which she gladly takes, and as they walk up the steps to Riverdale High she can’t help stealing glances at him every couple of seconds and she feels so warm and bright and full of love that she thinks she’s going to burst. 

She feels like this is it. This is the happiest she’s ever going to be; her petite body can simply not store any more of the emotion in it when she walks through the doors to the hall and is greeted with all of her friends. 

Jughead does in fact seem to have gone for the pompadour hair, but she’s more focused on how happy he seems to be dancing with Betty who is basically Grace Kelly incarnate in her dress, all clean lines and exaggerated silhouette. Chasing pavements is blasting from the school speakers, the very same ones they used to use for vixen's practise, and from the corner of her eye she sees Cheryl and Toni in the corner. Cheryl, in her 20’s flapper look and Toni in a suit that looks like its been ripped straight from Marlene Dietrich’s wardrobe and they seem to be arguing with Reggie who’s dressed like a back up dancer for wham who’s stood next to the punch: caught red handed with a flask in hand. 

Just like Archie’s bouquet he had given her Veronica can’t help but think that even though this is the cheapest formal event she’s ever attended, but she'll be damned if it isn’t her favorite.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, was it worth the wait? I hope so. 
> 
> I have a lot of mixed feelings in regard to this fic, because whilst I do think it is one of my better written I really struggled with the characterisation of the characters so any feedback would be greatly appeciated- I'm already aware that Veronica would never wear anything like this I was just obsessed with this dress idea 
> 
> (http://uk.millybridal.org/product/a-line-scoop-neck-silk-like-satin-sweep-train-pockets-prom-dresses-ukm020105078-22662.html - this is the dress I imagined but the colour is a little more muted and olive coloured)
> 
> Also, a few days ago an hour long "history of Jim and Pam" YouTube video came up on my recommended that I watched in one go, and it's where I one hundred percent stole the "you are everything" line from 
> 
> Also, Also the insult about Jughead's pompadour hair was a complete dig at the time Cole wore his hair like that and I won't apologise for making fun of it. 
> 
> Finally if you ever want to talk Varchie with me my Tumblr @ is ronniesandrxws

**Author's Note:**

> I am aware that this fic is extremely sappy, but I hope you enjoyed it none the less.
> 
> Once again, I didn’t really listen to any music whilst writing this BUT I was reading normal people in between which I definitely think impacted some of the choices in the fic. (Would also 100 percent recommend that book) 
> 
> All comments and kudos are greatly, greatly appreciated and if you ever want to talk Varchie my tumblr is @ronniesandrxws


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